I had the pleasure of going to FARE HEALTHY 2017, located at the Old Truman Brewery in East London, it was an event on an epic scale that spanned across two days from the 4-5th February.

This is the 3rd year the festival has occurred and it was the biggest yet. The festival has 9 areas and only 2 cost extra on top of your ticket so there 7 areas free to everyone and here they are:

• Main Stage
• Fare Healthy Inspires
• Fare Healthy Discusses
• Fare Healthy Moves
• Have a Go Workshops
• Vitamix Cooking Demo Stage
• Self love Surgery
• Book shop
• Kids Zone
• Brands and Shopping

You can look at the website here to see the full line up and what went down but I’m going to share my highlights with you.

The fare healthy discusses stage.

I attended a few talks here and thought it was a great stage to open up the discussion on sugars, grains, business and social media. my favourite talk was ‘Fuelling your Fitness’ with Rhiannon Lambert and Alice Liveing. The talk discussed all things overeating, under eating, maintaining weight, counting macros and a whole host f questions were asked and expertly answered by people who had real qualifications and knowledge. 

Cooking Demos- The Vitamix stage

I love a good cooking demo, it’s the best way to see how easily healthy recipes can be made. My favourite demo was Naturally Sassys Raw rocky road. Not only did she demo the recipe, she gave us lots of tips and tricks on how to make it our own and customise the recipe something I often do. (We also tried the rocky road and it was delicious) 

Have a Go!

What a brilliant area, to be able to get the chance to make your own food, learn how to arrange flowers, go to a superfood face mask workshop and even a cocktail making class really was enjoyable. I particularly loved the Pip and Nut energy ball workshop (as the biggest nut butter fan going) We made our own mixture, blended it and then got to choose our coatings. Emily and I made cacao peanut balls coated in desiccated coconut, mixed nuts and cacao powder.

Food

There were so many options to grab yourself some breakfast, lunch or both ! The main foodie spots were:

• THE MAE DELI
• POCO / TOM’S FEAST
• ANDINA / CASITA ANDINA
• PEARDROP LONDON  & PIP & NUT
• 26 GRAINS
• POLLEN & GRACE
• POTAGE

I indulged in Pip & Nuts pancake bar with buckwheat pancakes, almond butter, coconut yoghurt and berries, which was divine ! I also tried something new to me which was a ‘detox’ box from pollen and grace containing, sweet potato humus, red quinoa, beetroot, cabbage, bean shoots and a miso yoghurt dressing. Delicious and nutritious I will say. Just wished I could have tried more of the food… however I was very full as you will go on to read.

Brands, Sampling and Shopping

Having hundreds of health orientated brands under one roof was a real credit to the whole festival. They had everything from all categories including: clothing, activewear, food, ice cream, beauty products, animal food, beer, drinks, nut butters, snack bars, bakery’s, teas, superfoods, chocolate, candles and many more. I was able to discover and learn about lots of new brands that really believed in health and wellness. There were great offers and discounts at almost all stands enabling you to try the products at a better rate. Now the samples, if you’re a sucker for a sample prepared to be full. You can try everything here, especially chocolate, so much chocolate ! (Healthy of course) There were snack bars, fruit, vegetable crisps, tagines, nut butters, cakes , teas, yoghurt, ice cream, granola, kumbucha and I’m sure there was a lot more. 

Friends

If you have friends with a similar interest this is a great event to go with one another. Alternatively if you’ve met people through social media who are into health they also might like to attend and you can meet each other in person and make friends for life. Also never be afraid to go to these events alone, many people do and just by going to talks and walking around you can meet people and make more friends ! It’s a social event after all brining people with similar interests together.

Hopefully this has given you an insight into the festival, what’s involved and what went down in 2017. Hopefully the festival will be back in 2018 because I will be their next year and hopefully you will join me !